Microgaming, an award-winning developer of casino, poker and bingo software, is pleased to reveal that it has signed a licensing agreement with The Really Useful Group in terms of which it will develop an online slot game based on the 2004 movie version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera.

The film adaptation of the 1986 musical of the same name was directed by Joel Schumacher and starred Emmy Rossum, Minnie Driver and Gerard Butler. The movie, that was a roaring success and grossed more than $154 million worldwide, featured the classical numbers “The Phantom of the Opera, “All I Ask of You” and “The Music of the Night”,

Microgaming will be developing the online slot game featuring the principal characters, musical numbers and original footage of the film for release later this year.

David Reynolds, Games Publisher at Microgaming, commented on the signing of the agreement by saying that The Phantom of the Opera has had unequivocal success and played to more than 140 million viewers in 35 countries in 166 cities around the world. He added that it is extremely exciting to be working with a musical which is a new type of branded content for Microgaming, extending and broadening their portfolio of games.

Reynolds went on to say that this game is due to be released in the third quarter of this year and will be a true celebration of the world’s biggest opera, balancing a healthy mix of base game features with a feature-packed free spins round.